“Don’t worry about the weapons, Zach.” I looked over at the person who had spoken. It was Gunnery Sergeant Smithson. He was fatigued as well, but otherwise looked the same as I remembered. Maybe his hair was a little longer, but he was still clean shaven and his chiseled features seemed to indicate he was as fit as ever. “They’re worthless at the moment. We’re out of ammo.”
“All of you step away from my children,” I demanded coldly.
“But, Zach, we brought them back to you,” Ruth responded.
“That’s the only reason any of you are still alive,” I said and then lowered my voice to a growl. “Now step away from my children.” They did as I ordered. The three of them moved as one and stood together closely, Sergeant Smithson standing in front of Ruth protectively.
The kids, my kids, were oblivious of the tension in the air. The only thing they were paying attention to was Hank. I nudged him toward them. Hank, who was very gentle by nature, nickered softly and sniffed them. I kept my rifle pointed at the three of them.
“What now, Zach?” Major Parsons asked. I glanced at my children. Little Frederick was walking around pretty well, even if he had his arms outstretched like Frankenstein. A sense of pride rippled through me. Macie had not moved from the position where Ruth had set her down. She was looking around in wonder at all of the sights and seemed particularly fascinated by Hank. He nudged her curiously. She fell back and squealed in glee. It was hard work keeping my emotions in check at that moment.
“They’ve grown,” I commented.
“We’ve taken good care of them,” the major said.
“You better hope you have,” I quickly retorted. Little Frederick looked at me curiously for a second before his attention again went to Hank. “They’re not even sure who I am, thanks to you people. Tell me what’s going on here.”
“There’s no need for all of this, Zach,” Major Parsons contended. “Why don’t we sit down like civilized adults and discussed this?”
“Are you going to make me kill you in front of my kids?” I rejoined as I stared at him in contempt. He dropped his eyes and stared at the ground.
“Let’s hear it,” I repeated. Ruth spoke up.
“After you escaped, Colonel Coltrane sent out search parties,” she said. “When you weren’t found, he wanted to come back here and wait on you, he knew you’d show up eventually, but he was ordered to relocate all of us to Atlanta.” I stared at her shrewdly, trying to determine if she was telling the truth.
“By whom?”
“The President,” Ruth answered.
“Where to in Atlanta?”
“The CDC,” Sergeant Smithson added. “Up until two days ago it was operational.”
“You said, was.” The Sergeant nodded. “What happened?”
“About fifty thousand of those things is what happened,” he muttered ruefully.
“The place was attacked and overrun,” Ruth said. “It was horrible.”
“It was one of those rules of yours, Zach,” the Sergeant continued. “They’re getting smart. We thought we had eliminated most of them, but those things fooled us. The only thing we could think of was they hid in abandoned buildings throughout the city and waited for the right moment.” Sergeant Smithson sighed and continued.
“For weeks we’d watch in amusement as small groups of them tried to climb the fencing or attempt to push their way through the concrete barricades. Little did we know those things were actually probing and testing our defenses, looking for weak points.” He paused a moment and looked at his companions.
“Long story short, one night they massed together and attacked us.”
“What, like a coordinated attack?” I asked skeptically. The Sergeant nodded. It was hard to believe those things, who were nothing more than sub humans now, were able to do something like they said.
“What happened then?” I asked. He pointed at Ruth.
“Ruth was assigned guard duty for the kids. We ate dinner together and then she put them to bed. The two of us were hanging out together when the alarms were activated.” His features darkened.
“Like I said, it was a mass attack. About six hours into it, it became obvious we were being overrun. So, we grabbed them and got the hell out of there.” He pointed at Major Parsons. “I figured we needed the doc here, so I made him go with us.” He then lowered his head a moment before raising it and looking me directly in the eye.
“Zach, on my word of honor, the three of us here had nothing to do with the death of your people.” I stared at him balefully, dubious whether or not he was telling the truth. I’d get to the bottom of it, but it was a subject for another time. I gestured toward my kids.
“Where were my kids at when y’all were holding me captive?” I asked.
“They were being kept in another building,” Major Parsons interjected. “Not far from where you were housed. They were not harmed, I can assure you.”
I continued glaring at all of them. In contrast to Sergeant Smithson, the major had not shaved in a day or two. His uniform was cleaner, but all that told me was the two enlisted Marines were the ones doing all of the dirty work. He returned my stare with an arrogant one of his own. It angered me, I couldn’t keep my emotions in check any longer. I walked up to him and kicked him in the testicles. I’ve no doubt it would have been a fifty yard punt if I had been kicking a football. Parsons gasped and doubled over in pain. Smithson moved toward me, but I stopped him by jabbing him in the gut with the barrel of my rifle. He backed away quickly with his hands raised.
“Easy, Zach. You may not like him, but he’s the only doctor we have.”
“You people kidnapped my kids and killed my friends!” I yelled so forcefully spit flew from my mouth. Ruth started to speak, but I cut her off with a look. I waited until I could speak without yelling.
“Y’all are going to tell me everything, but first things first, where is everyone else?”
“It’s just us, Zach,” Ruth said. “We honestly don’t know if anyone else survived.”
I kept a wary eye on them as I retrieved my walkie-talkie out of the saddle bag and called for Kelly. After a few tries, she answered.
“Where are you?” she asked.
“I’m at the Riggins house and I have company. Marine company. Check your surroundings and then get over here ASAP.” I jammed the walkie into my pocket and watched as Major Parsons, who was on all fours, began vomiting. Little Frederick saw and started crying, which surprised me.
Kelly sped up the driveway in the big Volvo and actually slid sideways to a stop, spraying all of us with gravel. She leapt out of the truck like a super cop in an action movie, pointing her handgun wildly. It looked really cool, but the only problem was she had left the truck running and in gear. It was lurching forward, a couple of feet at a time. I gestured toward the truck. She hurriedly jumped back in, set the air brake, and shut it off. When she got herself sorted out, I had the three of them move away from the major’s vomit and sat them down on the cold ground.
“Cover me a minute,” I directed to Kelly, set my rifle down and searched the three of them. There were no hidden weapons, but I couldn’t help but noticed when I was patting down Sergeant Smithson he was nothing but rock hard muscle. I’d have to be careful with him. I then grabbed their assault rifles and put them in the Volvo.
“So, tell us the whole story,” I commanded. “Starting with the kidnapping.”
“Our original mission order was only to snatch you and carry you to Fort Campbell,” Sergeant Smithson said. “I was the NCOIC.”
“What is NCOIC?” Kelly asked. “What does that mean?”
“Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge,” Sergeant Smithson answered. Kelly nodded in seeming understanding. “Anyway, as you know, we pulled it off without a hitch, other than me having to pop you in the back of the head.”
“Yeah, I had a headache for two days. I owe you for that one,” I retorted. “Keep going.”
“After we got back to Fort Campbell, we had a
mission debriefing. That’s when I found out you had kids and one of the other teams had grabbed them.” He looked over at our dilapidated house. “And then, well, I guess you know what was talked about next. If that wasn’t bad enough, we lost one of our own.” I stared at them icily. I’m sure I didn’t have to tell any of them I didn’t care in the least that one of their fellow soldiers was killed. Hell, they all should have died.
“Who ordered the use of lethal force?” I asked. “Colonel Coltrane?” They nodded solemnly.
“Someone inside the house started shooting, that’s how Lamance got it, and then it all went to hell,” Ruth said quietly, almost in a whisper. She cautioned a glance at me. “It was a woman who started shooting. We found out later who it was.”
"Who?" I asked. The two of them glanced at each other uncomfortably.
"We were told it was your wife." I didn’t doubt them, it sounded like Julie. She wasn't timid to shoot if she felt threatened. I wondered who told them it was her, but decided to wait until later to ask.
“What happened after I escaped?” Smithson looked at me and his jaw muscles tightened.
“I won’t sugarcoat it, Zach. Everyone was pissed that you killed Solonowski and wanted some payback.”
“Killing me would have defeated the whole purpose of abducting me in the first place, wouldn’t it?” I asked. Smithson grunted.
“Oh, we had orders to take you alive.”
“I imagine if I were caught I had a good beating waiting on me.” Smithson replied with a tight smile.
“We searched for you for two days,” he said. “You were doing a pretty good job of hiding from us. Anyway, on the evening of the second day, Colonel Coltrane recalled everyone and issued the orders to relocate. He really wanted to find you too, but he had orders, and orders are orders. We packed up everything and left.”
“So, the President is the one who gave the order to move to the CDC?” Kelly asked. The two NCOs nodded. Major Parsons was mostly unresponsive and sat there morosely, gingerly cupping his ball sack.
“And to take Zach’s children?” There was a moment of silence, broken by Ruth clearing her throat.
“I won’t bother with a long-winded explanation, but we’re not sure POTUS was ever made aware of the children,” she said and looked over at Major Parsons. “Right, sir?” He was still in pain as he looked at her, but slowly nodded his head in agreement.
“We knew we’d eventually relocate, we just didn’t know when,” Ruth said. “There’ve been groups working on a cure ever since the outbreak. Our group’s primary mission was to travel around the eastern region, make contact with survivors and test them. There were other units similar to ours scattered around the country but everyone was ordered to relocate and consolidate.”
“Go on,” I urged. Major Parsons spoke up
“We were making progress.”
“If you’re thinking about saying something stupid like, my children were instrumental in your research, I’m going to cut your tongue out.” The major made brief eye contact with me and quickly looked back down at the ground. I glared expectantly at the other two and motioned for them to keep talking.
“Three nights ago, the zombies attacked. We literally killed thousands of them, but there were too many.” Sergeant Smithson paused and looked over at Ruth. “Before that happened though, me and Ruth had talked about bugging out. We’d had enough. Things were all messed up and it wasn’t getting any better. Colonel Coltrane's behavior became, well, what’s the correct word—”
“Bizarre, odd, weird, contradictory, take your pick,” Ruth added. Smithson nodded in agreement. Even Major Parsons nodded.
“Justin and I had been secretly planning on it. We had this Humvee already loaded up and ready to go.”
“So, when it became obvious we were going to be overrun, we knew it was time to act.” Ruth cast me a worried look. “I won’t lie to you, Zach. Our original plan was for just the two of us to bug out. But, when the time came, I couldn’t leave without the kids.”
“She insisted on taking them,” Smithson added. “She cares for them like they’re her own.” I looked over at Ruth, who was choked up now. Sergeant Smithson grabbed her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
“I gotta tell you, going out into that mess with two little kids was definitely not what I had in mind, but Ruth was right. Leaving them there was out of the question.”
“How did numbnuts here end up with you guys?” I asked.
“He saw us leaving, followed us, and demanded to know where we were going with the kids. I told him we were getting the hell out of there.”
“They asked me to join them,” Parsons added. “More like insisted, but I didn’t argue.”
“Yeah,” Smithson said and shrugged. “He’s a doctor, so I thought it’d be a good idea, even though our loadout was only enough for two people.”
“Where were you going to go?” I asked.
“Here, Zach,” Ruth said. “When we made the decision to take the kids with us, it was a no-brainer.”
“If we got caught, we would have been shot for desertion. We started to do it several times, but something always came up and we aborted. It looked like it wasn’t ever going to happen, but when those things attacked, I knew then we had to do it.” He shrugged again. “Hell, I wasn’t sure we were even going to make it off the premises, but they were all concentrated on the east side of the center.”
“Sounds like a convenient story,” I contended. Sergeant Smithson sighed.
“You’ve never been in the military, Zach. Duty and obedience to orders are beat into your brain all through boot camp. Going AWOL is almost as bad as renouncing God.” He sighed again.
“So, like she said, we talked about it and we planned it all out, but never acted on it until that night.” I thought it over for several minutes. They watched me in silence, unsure if they should say anything and opted to keep quiet.
“Alright,” I finally said. “I’ll give it to you guys, you brought my kids back.” I looked pointedly at Major Parsons. “What you did to me was unforgivable, but I can live with it. But, I want to make something crystal clear. In a few minutes, Kelly and I are going to take my kids home. I’m going to feed them, give them a nice hot bath, and I’m going to check them from top to bottom. If I find one single thing wrong with them, one single injury, one single scar, one single mark, I’m going to kill you very slowly.” It was a cool morning, but Major Parsons was now sweating profusely.
“I only drew blood a couple of times,” he lamented. I stared at him a long minute and then looked over at Kelly.
“There is one other thing we need to tell you,” Ruth said. Sergeant Smithson and Major Parsons looked at her sharply. She ignored them. “Janet, she’s alive.” I stared at her in disbelief.
“When the Colonel raided your house and after the gunfire died down, she was found in the basement, huddled over your kids. Colonel Coltrane gave her the option of going with him and caring for the kids. She agreed.” I frowned and shook my head slowly. That woman had more lives than a pregnant cat.
“Why didn’t you bring her with you then?” I asked.
“Because I don’t like the bitch,” Ruth said disdainfully.
“Ditto,” Major Parsons muttered. I certainly understood the sentiment. I glanced at Kelly a second and made a decision.
“You two,” I said, indicating the sergeant and corporal, “are free to go. Major Parsons is going to be a special guest for a while.” I pointed in the direction of the old homestead. “Start walking that way.” He slowly got to his feet and at first refused to move. “Either start walking, or else,” I threatened. He walked.
I directed Major Parsons while I followed him on Hank and soon had him in the old barn. I pointed to the cage. “Welcome to your new home.”
Chapter 11 – Recognition
“How are they?” Kelly asked quietly as I came into the kitchen. When we got home, we fed them and then I bathed them while Kelly cleaned up.
/> “They’re asleep,” I responded just as quietly. I had them bundled up on the floor and the two of them feel asleep with Macie’s arms around her big brother. It was heartwarming.
“I’m pretty sure he finally recognized me,” I whispered. “But, I don’t think Macie has any clue who I am.”
“Do they have any injuries?”
“A couple of needle marks on their arms, which I expected, but otherwise they’re in good shape.” It was true. In fact, the two of them appeared very healthy and well-fed.
"That’s good, right?” she asked. I shrugged. “Do you think they’ll try to break that major out of the cage?” I shrugged again.
“They might, but I took their weapons and the fuel level on their Humvee is very low.” I’d told them they could spend the night in the old homestead and we’d bring them breakfast in the morning, or they could leave. I doubted they’d leave. Even I knew Marines were fiercely loyal to their own and no matter how much they may have despised Major Parsons, they wouldn’t abandon him.
Kelly and I bedded down in the den with my kids and they instinctively snuggled up against us. It was a wonderful feeling. Kelly fell asleep almost immediately. I stayed awake for over an hour, mulling over the events of the day. It was almost like an act of God that my children were back home. I had serious doubts about how we would have fared had we attempted to infiltrate the CDC and rescue my kids, so I counted myself grateful and said a silent prayer of thanks.
Major Parsons was still locked in the cage and it didn’t look like he slept very well. He sat up and looked up at me sullenly as I entered the barn. I pulled up a bucket, the same bucket my buddy, Rowdy Yates, had sat on back when I was in that cage, and sat down. Opening my thermos, I poured myself a hot cup of coffee. It was stale, hell all coffee was stale these days, but even so I made a display out of enjoying it immensely.
“How was your night, Major?”
“It could have been better,” he replied sullenly.
“I found needle marks on my children’s arms.”
Zombie Rules (Book 4): Destiny Page 8